SOHAM murder accused Ian Huntley was in a coma last night after an apparent suicide bid.

SOHAM murder accused Ian Huntley was in a coma last night after an apparent suicide bid.

He was found having a fit in his cell early yesterday after taking an overdose of anti-depressants at one of Britain's top security prisons, sources said.

An investigation was launched immediately, focusing on the suspicion that Huntley, 29, had stored up his prescribed medication for the overdose.

He was charged with the double murder of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman last August.

The former school caretaker had been on suicide watch since his last court appearance, when he denied the killings, and was understood to have been receiving medication for depression for some time. He was discovered "fitting" in his cell by officers at Woodhill prison who had orders to check him every 15 minutes over fears he could try to kill himself.

Harry Fletcher, of the National Association of Probation Officers, said he had learned from sources that Huntley had overdosed on the anti-depressants, which he had accumulated and hidden in tea bags inside his cell.

He was rushed from the prison near Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, to a hospital by ambulance but was in a coma by the time he arrived, at about 4am yesterday.

Mark Leech, editor of the Prisons Handbook, said: "Even in a coma I wouldn't be surprised to find three officers around his bed and even him handcuffed, because of the uproar this case has caused."

An early report on the investigation is expected by Friday.

Mark Freeman, deputy general secretary of the Prison Officers Association (POA), said a recent change in prison procedures could have given Huntley his chance. "This will no doubt be an embarrassment for the Prison Service and the Government," he said.

"They will be looking for someone to blame and the chances are that it will be some poor wing officers who unfortunately have been dispensing medication that, in our opinion, they are not medically trained to do."

Huntley was charged with double murder following the disappearance of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman on August 4 last year.

He has admitted conspiring to pervert the course of justice in connection with the deaths but denies murdering the 10-year-olds.